This year, January 26th marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and the dawn of The Year of the Ox which is said to usher in a year of hard work and self discipline.

Luckily, the good news is that before all that hard work and self discipline starts, it’s customary to enjoy a variety of sweet foods to encourage prosperity and success in the new year.

Below are several sweet and delicious Asian recipes that will help you do just that…enjoy!

• Chinese New Year Sticky Rice Cake (Nian Gao) from Knowing Food

• Red Bean Paste Pancakes from Rasa Malaysia

• Taro and Tapioca Pearl Dessert from Christine’s Recipes

• Sesame Seed Balls from Dessert First

• Tofu Fa from Christine’s Recipes

• 8 Treasures Dessert from Delicious Asian Food

• Peanut Cookies for Chinese New Year from The Food Site

• Longan Tong Sui Recipe from Rasa Malaysia

Interested in learning more about other foods considered auspicious for Chinese New Year celebrations? The folks at Chow have an interesting article called 10 Good Luck Foods for Chinese New Year.

According to Chinese Restaurant News, there are now more Chinese restaurants than McDonalds franchises as it says in this informative article by author Gish Gen.

Whether you celebrate the Asian lunar new year or not, if you enjoy getting good deals on fresh produce and spices, you’ll want to visit your local Asian supermarket or grocery store. In addition to finding new and inspiring ingredients for Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Filipino, and Malaysian cooking, Asian markets can be good places to find kitchen cookware and utensils, unusual cuts of meat, exotic ice cream flavors, and more.

Serious Eats has a nice article about Asian markets here.

(Photo Credit: CNY Decorations by Vin’Z.)

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